Deal with GEM saves Petty name, reputation

Driving for Petty Enterprises, Elliott Sadler is seen during practice for the Daytona 500 NASCAR auto race at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 14. Sadler finished fifth in the Daytona 500, his best showing in over six months with a payday of more than $515,000. (AP Photo/Darryl Graham, File)
— AP Photo/Darryl Graham

Driving for Petty Enterprises, Elliott Sadler is seen during practice for the Daytona 500 NASCAR auto race at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 14. Sadler finished fifth in the Daytona 500, his best showing in over six months with a payday of more than $515,000. (AP Photo/Darryl Graham, File)
/ AP Photo/Darryl Graham

After last summer's sale of Petty Enterprises to Boston Ventures fell apart because of economic issues, the team faced bankruptcy and liquidation.

Leading sponsor General Mills had quit the team, and lead driver Bobby Labonte was freed from his contract after asking for a release.

The only thing that saved Petty Enterprises was the fact that another Dodge team, Gillett Evernham Motorsports, was also struggling. At the 11th hour, Petty and GEM merged into the renamed Richard Petty Motorsports.

Although GEM was the stronger entity, Petty had the more marketable name – given 60 years of NASCAR history and a record 200 wins in Richard Petty's portfolio.

Last week, the new team debuted in the Daytona 500 with stunning success. On Sunday, the team will have another chance to show what it can do in the Auto Club 500 in Fontana, where qualifying will be held today.

Driver Elliott Sadler would have scored the first win for Petty's team had the race-stopping rains at Daytona started a half-lap earlier. As it was, the team placed three drivers in the top 10: A.J. Allmendinger (third), Sadler (fifth) and Reed Sorenson (ninth).

“I really was proud of what we did at Daytona,” Petty said this week in a teleconference. “Circumstances beyond our control maybe kept us from winning the race. But all in all, it was a pretty good day for us.”

Not that all Pettys are happy with the new lineup.

Richard's son Kyle, who once ran Petty Enterprises, is out of the picture – as well as his car. Kyle's elimination from the team he has represented almost annually since 1979 has caused a rift in the first family of stock car racing.

“When we did our deal with Boston Ventures, we never had a place for Kyle at Petty Enterprises,” Richard said. “He sort of got out of the loop.

“When he got out of the loop, he's been doing his own thing . . . he's run the Rolex (24 Hours of Daytona) and doing some TV.”

Richard admitted he has not seen his son since Christmas.

“I've really not talked to him,” said The King of the driver once considered the heir apparent to the Petty throne. “I spoke to him a couple of times on the phone. You can't get much done on the phone. He's talked to his mother.”

Kyle also talked to the media last week before the Daytona 500. He was particularly upset that the new Petty team used the paint scheme that Kyle debuted in 1979 without asking his permission.

“He was really crushed that we didn't include him in that part of it and I can understand that,” Richard said.

However, the last of Kyle's eight Sprint Cup wins in 828 starts came in 1995. And he had only one top-five finish in his last 342 starts driving for the family enterprise.

It just wasn't Kyle, however. Petty Enterprises hadn't won a race since 1999 and the team's last win in Daytona was scored by Richard in 1981.

“We really weren't doing what we needed to be doing,” said Richard Petty of the family team. “We had fallen behind other teams. Even moving our base (from the traditional home at Level Cross, N.C., to NASCAR's base around Charlotte) didn't help. We were looking for something for Petty Enterprises.”

Mostly, survival.

And while it looks like a merger by the new team's name, Petty Enterprises was folded into GEM to form a new four-car team with Kasey Kahne (who finished a team-worst 29th at Daytona) being the lead driver.

“They (GEM) were looking to expand, so we said let's just put the two teams together,” Richard said. “The way GEM was already set up, we were able to move in and use a couple of our cars. It couldn't have worked out better.”

Unless you're Kyle Petty.

Johnson offers tickets

Jimmie Johnson is giving away 480 tickets to Sunday's Auto Club 500.

“I just want to say thank you,” Johnson said. “It always means a lot when I roll through town and see a car go by with a 48 (the number of Johnson's Chevrolet) sticker. I just wanted to say thanks.”

The 480 tickets will be made available to the first 480 fans (one per person) who come to Jimmie Johnson's Kearny Mesa Chevrolet tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m.